As part of the UIA World Congress of Architects 2026 in Barcelona, il Consiglio degli architetti d'Europa premiered its exhibition “Form Follows Transformation: Moments that Redefine Europe’s Existing Buildings”, presenting inspiring architectural responses to one of Europe’s most pressing challenges: how to transform, reuse, and adapt the buildings we already have.
Co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme, the exhibition explores how transformation, renovation, and adaptive reuse can become central strategies for addressing climate change, supporting social needs, and preserving Europe’s cultural heritage.
Hosted at the Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHUB), the exhibition brought together 20 exemplary projects from across Europe, demonstrating how architects are rethinking existing buildings as valuable resources rather than constraints. Through innovative design approaches, circular strategies, and sensitive interventions, the featured projects show how transformation can preserve the identity of places while creating new opportunities for their future.
Following its premiere in Barcelona, “Form Follows Transformation” will travel across Europe in the coming years, creating opportunities for architects, policymakers, students, and the wider public to discover inspiring examples of transformation and exchange knowledge on the future of Europe’s existing building stock.
Photos by Joelle Gueguen, courtesy of Red&Grey.
Rethinking Europe’s Existing Buildings
Europe’s built environment is undergoing a profound transformation. Faced with climate challenges, resource scarcity, and changing social needs, the future of architecture increasingly depends on how we work with what already exists.
“Form Follows Transformation” presents transformation not as a technical solution alone, but as a new architectural culture based on care, adaptation, and long-term stewardship. The exhibition highlights how buildings are shaped by layers of history, materials, communities, and uses, and how architects can unlock their potential through thoughtful interventions.
The showcased projects demonstrate that reuse is not simply about preserving the past. It is about creating new possibilities for the future: reducing environmental impact, strengthening communities, and generating high-quality places that respond to contemporary needs.
Photos by Joelle Gueguen, courtesy of Red&Grey.
20 Projects Demonstrating the Potential of Transformation
The exhibition presents 20 projects selected from across Europe, illustrating the diversity of approaches to transforming existing buildings. Together, they demonstrate how architecture can respond creatively to different contexts, scales, and challenges.
The featured projects include:
- Kellogg’s Bremen (Germany) – Industrial Silos Reimagined: From Grain Storage to Urban Hospitality, transforming former industrial structures into a new urban destination.
- Nordgrün (Germany) – Building Upwards, Living Greener: Timber Densification Without Land Expansion, exploring sustainable urban growth through timber construction.
- Wittenberg Castle (Germany) – Layers of History: Rewriting a Monument for Contemporary Use, showing how historic structures can be adapted while preserving their identity.
- Pelėdžiukas Kindergarten (Lithuania) – From Institution to Community: Rehumanising a Soviet-Era Kindergarten, creating a more open and inclusive learning environment.
- Firefighters’ Tower (Belgium) – Vertical Heritage Activated: A Medieval Tower as Urban Observatory, revealing new public value within historic structures.
- Suceava Water Plant (Romania) – Industrial Memory as Culture: From Infrastructure to Civic Platform, transforming former infrastructure into a shared cultural space.
- Automatic Mills Grain Silo Conversion (Belgium) – The Machine as Public Space: A Silo Turned Cultural Landmark, demonstrating the cultural potential of industrial heritage.
- Thoravej 29 (Denmark) – Radical Reuse: 95% Materials, 100% Reinvention, showcasing a pioneering approach to material reuse and circular transformation.
- Elektrownia Powiśle (Poland) – Power Plant to Urban Engine: Reactivating Industrial Scale, giving new life to a former energy facility.
- Normandie Building (Belgium) – Brutalism Reinhabited: Office to Housing Transformation, adapting an existing office building into new housing.
- Weinlager (Belgium) – Collective Living in Industrial Frames: Warehouse to Community Housing, demonstrating how industrial heritage can support new forms of living.
- Usquare (Belgium) – Opening the Barracks: From Military Enclave to Urban Campus, transforming a former military site into a new urban district.
- Old Glassworks Ptuj (Slovenia) – Reconnecting the City: Industrial Ruin to Cultural Landscape.
- InGrid Hub (Belgium) – Factory to Future Workplace: Industrial Shell, Digital Culture.
- Tomelloso Caves (Spain) – Hidden Structures Revealed: Stabilising the Underground City.
- Galenicum HQ (Spain) – Working Within the Factory: Circular Space in Industrial Heritage.
- Kinsale Library (Ireland) – From Ruin to Knowledge: A Burnt Mill Reborn as Public Library.
- Kunstsilo (Norway) – Monumental Void: A Silo Becomes a Cultural Cathedral.
- Handelszentrum 16 (Switzerland) – Reprogramming the Megastructure: Warehouse to Mixed-Use Ecosystem.
- Hagenhaus (Switzerland) – Rural Heritage Reactivated: Farmstead to Cultural Campus.
Photos by Joelle Gueguen, courtesy of Red&Grey.
The accompanying "Form Follows Transformation” publication expands this selection to 36 projects, providing a broader overview of European approaches to transformation, including cultural buildings, schools, workplaces, housing projects, landscapes, and public spaces.
A New Architectural Culture Based on Transformation
Photos by Joelle Gueguen, courtesy of Red&Grey.
Reflecting on the exhibition, ACE President Daniel Fügenschuh highlighted the importance of recognising transformation as a fundamental shift in architectural practice: “The exhibition celebrates projects that demonstrate that this paradigm shift is not only possible, but already underway.” He emphasised the role of architects in developing innovative responses to Europe’s environmental and social challenges, showing that high-quality architecture can emerge from working carefully with existing buildings and places.
ACE President Daniel Fügenschuh and Marta Vall-llossera, President of the Higher Council of the Colleges of Architects of Spain (CSCAE)
For Reto Gmür, Member of the ACE Executive Board and President of the exhibition jury, transformation requires a broader understanding of sustainability: “The crisis of our built environment refuses simple remedies. A building with a reduced carbon footprint is a beginning, not an answer. The world presents layered pathologies—ecological, social, material—and architecture, if it is honest, must respond to all of them at once.”
He further stressed the importance of understanding existing buildings as unique resources: “Every existing building carries a character of its own.” Transformation begins by recognising the qualities already present in buildings and places—their history, materials, atmosphere, and relationship with their surroundings—and using these as the foundation for future interventions.
Reto Gmür, Member of the ACE Executive Board and President of the exhibition jury and Nolan Giles – Interview for HOLCIM Fondation
Connecting Architecture, Policy, and Practice
The exhibition formed a central part of ACE’s presence at the UIA World Congress of Architects and complemented the policy seminar “Form Follows Transformation: Moments that Redefine Europe’s Existing Buildings”, which brought together around 200 architects, policymakers, city representatives, and experts from across Europe.
The seminar and exhibition together highlighted the need for closer links between architectural practice and policy frameworks that support the transformation of Europe’s building stock, including the Nuovo Bauhaus europeo, il Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), e il Davos Baukultur principles.
By bringing together exemplary projects and policy discussions, ACE aims to strengthen the recognition of transformation as a key pathway towards a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient Europe.
Read more about the policy seminar qui.
A European Exhibition and Lasting Resource
Alongside the exhibition, ACE published the “Form Follows Transformation” booklet, gathering the featured projects and providing insight into the architectural ideas, processes, and challenges behind each intervention.
Photos by Joelle Gueguen, courtesy of Red&Grey.
The publication offers a resource for architects, policymakers, students, and all those interested in the future of Europe’s existing buildings.
Following its launch in Barcelona, “Form Follows Transformation” will continue its European journey, travelling to different locations and creating new opportunities for dialogue, exchange, and inspiration.
Through the exhibition and publication, ACE highlights a fundamental message: the future of Europe’s architecture will depend not only on what we build, but also on how we transform, adapt, and care for what already exists.
“Form Follows Transformation” is co-funded by the European Union through the Creative Europe programme.
